


10:37pm

by buoyantsaturn



Series: auctober 2019 [7]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alcohol, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, M/M, Partying, Pre-Relationship, References to Drugs, so many mentions of white claw but that's just my life at this point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-04 04:21:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21191486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: The night of the party, he got dressed and ready to go in the hopes that he could get there and get it over with, but Percy decided to invite a bunch of people over to pregame before the party, which left Nico sulking on the couch dressed as the most emo Ash Ketchum on the planet.





	10:37pm

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! i went to a halloween party which is not something i tend to do and had. an experience. so here's me processing my experience through my projection characters i hope you enjoy
> 
> thank u liz and annabel and mostly eli for this fic title

Nico hated parties, and his friends  _ knew that, _ but that didn’t stop them from dragging him along half of the time. He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, so all he did was sit around in over-crowded rooms while he waited for Percy to tell him it was time to leave. Not his idea of a fun Friday night. Percy had told him, “At least it’s a costume party!” as though that made it any better. Now, Nico had to figure out a Halloween costume, too.

The night of the party, he got dressed and ready to go in the hopes that he could get there and get it over with, but Percy decided to invite a bunch of people over to pregame before the party, which left Nico sulking on the couch dressed as the most emo Ash Ketchum on the planet. 

Jason, Annabeth, and Percy were running around the apartment, putting finishing touches on their costumes, when the door opened and Will burst inside.

He smiled his usual, beautiful, bright smile at Nico. “Hey, sorry I’m late, I got held up at work.” He dropped his backpack on the ground in the middle of the living room and pulled his shirt off over his head. 

Nico’s  _ hi _ got caught in his throat.

Percy jogged into the room and patted Will on the shoulder as he passed. “Hey, man, glad you could make it. There’s a few White Claws in the fridge for you.”

“Thanks!” Will said as he pulled on a white button-down. When he dropped his pants next, Nico had to look away for fear that his head might explode.

A few moments later, after hearing what Nico guessed was Will rummaging through his bag, Will said, “Shit. Do y’all have any fake blood? I must’ve left mine at home.”

“Yeah, I think Jason brought some,” Nico told him, and stood up to look for it, though he found himself distracted by Will’s outfit. He was wearing the  _ tightest _ black jeans on the planet - which was saying something, considering Nico’s wardrobe - with the button-down loosely tucked in and left unbuttoned down to his belly button. “Uh. What are you?”

Will grinned up at him from where he was still searching through his bag, showing off the fangs he must have slipped into his mouth. “I’m a sexy vampire!”

Nico barely held himself back from saying,  _ yeah, you are. _ Instead, he ducked his head and left the room, heading toward the bathroom where Jason was spattering a white t-shirt with fake blood. “Hey, can Will use some of your blood?”

“Sure,” Jason replied. “Tell him to come in here.”

Nico went back out into the living room to relay the message, and threw himself back down on the couch while he waited. In minutes, the other four were joining him on the couch, one by one, and Will insisted that they all take a picture together. He threw an arm around Nico’s shoulder and pressed close to him while everyone else gathered together for a picture.

Nico claimed a seat on the couch as soon as he walked into Piper’s living room. The place was already full of people, some that Nico recognized and most that he didn’t. There was too-loud music playing from somewhere else in the room, and the only light came from the black and white cartoons playing on the TV and a single red lamp in the corner. 

He pulled out his phone to text Reyna. The two of them had a deal - whenever one of them had to go to a party, the other had to show up as well. Neither of them were big fans of parties, and they learned that having a sober friend there with them made it a little bit more bearable. When he received confirmation that Reyna was on her way, Nico put his phone away and turned his attention to Will, who was at his side and poking at his arm. 

“What?”

“How’s my blood? It didn’t rub off yet, did it?” Will asked, pointing at the lines of blood running down his chin from his fangs. “I brought extra just in case.”

“It’s still there.”

“Great!” He brought himself around the side of the couch and plopped down onto the floor at Nico’s feet, leaning back against the couch and winding an arm around one of Nico’s legs. 

“You know there are chairs over there that you could bring over,” Nico pointed out.

Will pressed his cheek to Nico’s knee. “I like the floor.”

“How did you manage to get floor drunk in twenty minutes?” Piper asked Will as she dropped onto the couch next to Nico.

“I had the equivalent of five White Claws at Nico’s,” Will answered.

Nico frowned. “You only had three White Claws.”

“Oh!” Will tipped his head back to rest on the cushions between Nico and Piper’s legs. “I only had three White Claws! That means I’m right in that fun drunk spot!” His head lolled toward Nico to ask, “How drunk am I?”

“You seem pretty drunk,” he answered. 

“But not  _ too _ drunk.”

“Sure.”

Piper jumped up from the couch beside them. “Hey, I’m gonna go smoke in the other room if either of you want to join.” As she left the room, she called out, “Time to open up the weed room!” and about half of the party goers followed her out. 

Will took her place on the couch. “Ooh, I wanna go smoke, but when I get crossed, I always get too messed up. Nico, should I go smoke with them?”

He hesitated. How was Nico supposed to know how to answer that question for him? “It, uh, probably won’t be very much fun anymore if you’re too messed up.”

Will nodded. “Yeah, probably. I’ll go sit with them but not actually smoke!” Then he got up from the couch and ran off the way Piper had gone.

Almost immediately, Reyna took his seat. 

“Hey, when did you get here?” Nico asked.

“Just walked in. How are you doing?” 

“Suffering.”

Reyna nodded. “I’m sure I’ll be there soon enough.”

Everyone who knew Nico and Reyna knew that they would be the only sober people there all night, which meant that their friends were constantly handing them phones and purses and drinks to hold onto while they went to the bathroom or to smoke or whatever people did at parties.

Nico had three different drinks in his hands when Piper suddenly appeared and dropped onto Reyna’s lap and started playing with her hair. “Have I ever told you how pretty your hair is?” she asked. “You should wear it down more often. I love seeing it down like this.”

“Uh. Thank you.”

Piper’s attention drifted over to Nico. She reached toward him and brushed the hair back from his forehead before saying, “You have a five-head.”

Nico pushed her away and pulled his hair back over his forehead. 

Piper leaned against Reyna. “You know, if I wasn’t dating Jason, I would be all over you.” She pulled her phone out of her waistband and took a selfie of the two of them. “Oh my god, look at how cute this picture is! It’s like we’re on a date! That’s what I’m gonna caption it.” She typed on the screen for a moment while Reyna looked like she was trying not to combust, and then Piper leaned in for another picture, this time making sure Nico was in the background. “Now Nico’s third wheeling on our date.” She tapped the screen for another moment before she kissed Reyna on the cheek and left.

Once she was gone, Nico asked, “Is this what drunk girls are normally like?”  
“You would know just as well as I do.”

Nico perked up when he suddenly heard Will’s voice somewhere else in the room. It felt like he hadn’t seen Will in an hour - which, to be fair, might have been true. He looked around the room until he saw Will entering the living room with Leo in tow. They both made a beeline for Nico, with Leo kneeling by Nico’s feet and Will hovering behind him. 

“Okay, so,” Leo started, talking softly and forcing Nico to lean in to hear him over the crowd surrounding them, “I know I’m only serious, like, two percent of the time, but this is one of those times, okay? And I have a very honest question for you: do you like me as a person?”

Nico frowned. “Yes?”

“No, no, no,” Will butt in, putting a hand on Leo’s shoulder, “that’s leading the witness. You need to ask for his  _ opinion _ of you.”

“Leo, I genuinely do like you as a person,” Nico told him.

Leo grinned. “Awesome! Thanks, Neeks!” He hopped to his feet and practically ran from the room. 

While Nico’s attention was locked on Leo’s retreating form, Will dropped himself onto Nico’s lap. “Okay, first of all,” Will started, and grabbed Nico’s chin to turn his head to face him, “how’s my blood?”

“Still there,” Nico croaked, his heart pounding in his chest at how much it felt like Will was going to swoop down and kiss him. 

“Cool! So, Piper told me that you were third wheeling on her date with Reyna, so I’m here to sweep you off your feet. We’re on a date now.” He squirmed on Nico’s lap to pull his phone out of his pocket, and leaned against Nico to take a picture of the two of them. Nico watched over his shoulder as Will captioned the image,  _ we’re on a date! _ and then sent it to Piper as well as posted it to his story. 

He put his phone away, and turned his full attention to Nico. “How are you? Are you having fun?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

“Good! It’s only fun if it’s fun for everyone.”

Before either of them could say anything more, Piper appeared and returned to Reyna’s lap, poking Will in the chest. “You can’t be on a date!  _ We’re _ on a date!”

“We can both be on a date together!” Will suggested with a smile. “We can double date!”

Piper gasped, her eyes widening like that was the best idea she’d ever heard. “Yes! Let’s all go out tomorrow! Reyna, do you want sushi or ramen?”

Reyna’s eyes darted toward Nico’s, looking at him like a deer caught in the headlights. “Uh, surprise me.”

“Do you want soup or ramen, Nico?” Will asked, drawing Nico’s attention back to him. 

“She said sushi, not soup.”

“Sushi it is, then! I’ll pick you up for sushi at three-thirty tomorrow, okay?”

Piper frowned. “Three-thirty? That’s not a good date time! Reyna and I will have to go out without you some other time.”

“Fine! Just us, then, Nico!” Will told him happily, like that was what he wanted all along, and then in a second, his expression changed, and he jumped up. “Where did I leave my beer?”

“Oh, I know!” Piper said, and grabbed Will’s hand to pull him back out of the room.

Nico slumped against Reyna’s side. “He’s going to be the death of me.”

She huffed. “At least yours could actually happen.”

It was nearing midnight and the party was starting to thin out, though somehow the noise level stayed exactly the same. Nico still had to shout for Reyna to hear him despite being a foot away, and the rest of the voices in the room were just a rumble of noise around them. 

Will came back with a pout on his lips that Nico wanted to kiss away, and he knelt down at Nico’s feet, resting his arms on Nico’s legs in leaning in close. “Drew tried to kiss me, but I didn’t want that,” he stage whispered.

“I’m glad you knew that you didn’t want that.”

“She just said to me in the hall that she wanted to kiss me, and so I booked it out of there,” he elaborated, “because I didn’t want that, and I’m not gonna kiss somebody when I have a date tomorrow with somebody else.”

When Percy finally came back to the living room to tell Nico that he’d ordered a Lyft, it was nearing one in the morning, and Reyna had already left. Nico got up for the first time in around three hours, and went off to find Will to say goodbye. 

He found him in the hallway outside the room where the others must have been smoking, since the smell had leaked out into the hall. 

“Hey, Will, I’m heading home.”

Will grabbed his hands and pulled him close. “When I wake up tomorrow, I’m going to text you, and we’re going out for sushi. Three-thirty, don’t forget. We’re gonna go on the best date  _ ever.” _

* * *

Nico checked his phone for a text from Will every twenty minutes. He had no idea whether Will was actually serious about going on a date or not, or if he would even remember it after drinking so much the night before, but Nico couldn’t think of anything else all day. 

When Annabeth surfaced from Percy’s room around noon, Nico tried to explain the situation to her, though her only suggestion was to text Will and see what happened. Nico waited until three-thirty came and went before he even  _ thought _ about texting Will, though by four o’clock, he’d decided to pack up his backpack and head out. 

He knocked on Will’s door, but Cecil was the one that answered and let him inside. He went straight to Will’s bedroom, and steeling himself before knocking.

“Go away, Cecil,” Will grumbled from inside the room.

Nico took a deep breath and cracked the door open, poking his head inside to say, “It’s me.”

He watched as Will pulled his blanket over his head.  _ “No, _ don’t look at me, I’m hungover,” he moaned. 

“I figured you would be.” Nico entered the room, shutting the door behind himself, and sat on the edge of Will’s bed. He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a bottle of aspirin and a Gatorade.

“What are you doing here?” 

Nico shrugged, debating whether he should tell Will the truth or pretend he was just there as a friend to help with his hangover. He cleared his throat as he dropped the backpack on the ground and turned to face Will, though he couldn’t meet his eyes. “We had a date, but you slept through it, so I came to you instead.”

Will sat up slowly, pressing a hand to his forehead as he moved. “We had a  _ what?” _

“It was probably just a joke,” Nico said quickly, feeling his heart cracking apart in his chest, “because I think it was a joke when Piper said the same thing, but you kept it going even after Piper stopped, and… It’s all I’ve been able to think about all day.”

Will fell forward into his hands and groaned, which sent another crack through Nico’s already fragile heart. “I can’t believe I finally worked up the courage to ask you out, and I blew it.”

His heart stopped beating altogether. There was no way that he heard Will correctly, right? But...he  _ did _ hear him right. He  _ did _ want to ask Nico out, but he thought he lost his chance. Did Will not realize that Nico would have given him all the chances in the world?

Nico knocked his shoulder against Will’s hand held out the Gatorade. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!! 
> 
> ((yes a Majority of this Did happen to me, except for the part where i showed up at her apartment afterwards bc uhhh she did Not remember asking me out and im too much of a coward to bring it up myself))
> 
> check out more auctober stuff at solangeloweek on tumblr!! thanks for hanging out with us this month!!!


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